NIPA PALM | Jakarta Indekos

A singular building inspired by a traditional longhouse encompasses a communal kitchen with neighbouring communal gardening space with a view of children’s play area on the ground floor, along with common corridors, extended staircase landings, and smaller open-air alcoves for intimate conversations interspersed between units on the upper floors increase the safety of children while fostering a sense of community.

From a structural point of view, a fan palm is a palm where all the segments (or leaflets) radiate from one central area. This plan draws inspiration from palm leaves with segments which allow for heavy rain to flow through the leaves easily during the local tropical monsoon season. With this plan, a porous structure allows for the passing of rain and ventilation. This slanted orientation is also considerate of local religious customs, where toilets and showers should be perpendicular to the qibla direction for Muslims. With this, when doing their daily prayers, Muslims would not have
toilets in the building which are in-between them and the qibla.

The use of pre-existing local design of ventilation blocks shaped like leaves reduces construction cost and increases the familiarity of the building for occupants, fostering a sense of home. The use of local material reduces the carbon footprint of the material, reduces the thermal capacity of the building for increased thermal comfort in tropical weather (hot and humid), reduces cost of construction, and provides constant work opportunities for local workers in the installation and upkeep of the attap roof. Private clothes’ hanging space accessible from the windows of each room eliminates chances of the opposite gender having easy access to personal clothes, preventing crimes of convenience. The density of pillars on the ground floor imitates mangrove roots which co-exist beside Nipa palms rooted in mud.